A lack of cover

IT is only when Southern Cross Healthcare’s decision to axe 3,000 jobs – seven per cent of its overall workforce – is placed in wider context that the sheer scale of the firm’s financial predicament, and potential consequences for elderly residents, becomes clearer.

By The Newsroom

Published 9th Jun 2011, 07:00 BST

These are not “back office” posts that are being lost. The roll-call, according to reports, includes 1,275 care staff, more than 300 nurses, 700 catering posts, 400 domestic staff and 235 maintenance employees – individuals who, presumably, perform a vital function or they would not have been recruited in the first place.

Yet, in a labour-intensive industry where the health needs of residents are paramount, these cuts – part of the troubled company’s wider refinancing – will cause untold worry to both the staff concerned, and the residents who they look after.

It is also a reminder that the Government cannot ignore the future care needs of the elderly. This is an intrinsic part of NHS and local authority budgets, and insufficient consideration is being given to the financial consequences of an ageing society.

Government NHS